For some time it has been realized that the hot steam sterilizers or autoclaves employed in the medical field for sterilizing hand instruments, tools or the like require long heating and cooling times, due in part to the relatively great chamber volume of such devices.
It was accordingly proposed in the Hoffman U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,357 to provide a xe2x80x9cDevice for Sterilizing Medical and Dental Objects,xe2x80x9d with that device being small enough to be employed in the sterilization of small, hand held items, with one example being a dental hand piece. However, the Hoffman device utilized microwave radiation, with its accompanying disadvantages, with at least one of these disadvantages being the fact that many types of metal devices could not be sterilized in his device.
Somewhat similarly, the Auger U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,416 entitled xe2x80x9cSterilization Process for Thermoplastic Appliancesxe2x80x9d likewise entailed the use of microwave energy.
It is therefore a goal of the instant invention to provide a small, readily affordable device for sanitizing small items such as toothbrushes without necessitating the complexity and expense associated with the use of microwave energy.
In accordance with this invention I have provided a device for sanitizing a toothbrush, with this device having an aperture into which the bristle portion of a toothbrush can be inserted. In an upper portion of the housing a reservoir for water is provided, with a tube connected for carrying water from the reservoir to a pump. This pump is driven in rotation by a small electric motor contained in the housing, with the pump having an output delivered to a pan mounted in the lower portion of the housing. This pan is configured to contain a relatively small quantity of water delivered from the reservoir by the pump during a relatively short interval of time. Heater means are operatively mounted closely below the pan and arranged to heat and vaporize the small quantity of water residing in the pan at a given moment. This causes the heated vapor to flow upwardly past the bristles of the toothbrush, to bring about the sanitizing of the bristles. Means are provided for bringing about rotation of the motor essentially contemporaneously with the delivery of electric power to the heater means, so that the sanitizing procedure will be accomplished for a suitable length of time. Timing means are provided for causing the rotation of the motor to cease and the shutting off of power to the heater means after sufficient time has elapsed for the creation of a sufficient amount of heated water vapor for the sanitizing of the bristles of the toothbrush inserted through the aperture.
It is therefore a principal object of my invention to provide a compact and readily affordable device for sanitizing a small, hand held item, such as a toothbrush.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device sufficiently small as to be easily accommodated on or near the lavatory in a bathroom, with this device making it readily possible for a person to sanitize his or her toothbrush immediately before use, thus to make the ingestion of germs less likely and to cause the brushing of the teeth to be a more enjoyable procedure.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a compact device for sanitizing the bristles of a toothbrush either before or after use, with this device advantageously being constructed utilizing inexpensive, easily obtainable components, and avoiding the use of microwave radiation.